A new, $20 million research vessel will be charting the sea floor off
both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts early next year.

The craft is the 235-foot "Langseth," which is owned by the U.S.
National Science Foundation and operated by the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.

The mission to chart the sea floor on both coasts with sonic waves will
be the first for the newly refitted boat, said the observatory. The
boat was used in commercial oil exploration under its former name, the
"Western Legend." It spent about six months at dry dock in Nova Scotia
before sailing to Galveston, Texas, earlier this year.

The mission is of interest to Pacific coast residents because two of
the earth's tectonic plates, the Caribe and the Coco, meet there and
are the source of earthquake activity. The new boat is expected to
provide clearer mapping of exactly what is going on beneath the sea. A
similar study by another group of scientists provided an accurate
prediction of a Turkish earthquake.

The "Langseth" is believed to be undergoing about two months of
shakedown cruises in the Gulf of Mexico.

Its first scientific mission, a study of the geologic subduction zones
off the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, is to be led by researchers at
the University of Wyoming. Subsequent cruises will take scientists over
submerged mountain ranges in the eastern Pacific, offshore of Alaska’s
great St. Elias volcano and to the earthquake and volcanism-wracked
Juan de Fuca Ridge off Oregon, said the observatory.

The "Langseth" is designed to pulse sound through sea bottoms and read
the return signals with vast arrays of hydrophones towed with cables
stretching as long as 5 miles. Previous vessels operated by the
observatory have used similar technology, but the scale of the setup,
combined with newly sophisticated computing and other improvements, is
expected to offer unprecedented resolution and depth in looking at
seabed phenomena, said the observatory, which added:

The ship also carries multibeam sonar to
map the

Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory photo

The 'Langseth'

topography of deep
seafloors with greater accuracy than before. It will deploy
seismometers and other instruments on ocean floors that can monitor
earthquakes, detect waves and tides, or warn of tsunamis. Sensitive
microphones will be used to detect the calls of marine mammals at long
distances. Onboard research space will also be dedicated to the study
of marine mammals.

The ship “will revolutionize researchers’ ability to study the sources
of deep earthquakes, to image the plumbing that feeds the global
undersea volcanic system, and produce an understanding that could lead
us to ideas about new energy resources,” said G. Michael Purdy,
director of the the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “We know
now
that the earth is not at all still, but dynamic. We’re hoping to better
understand what drives movements, and
shed light on ongoing changes that could affect our global society.”

According to the observatory:

The vessel is named for the pioneering observatory geophysicist Marcus
Gerhardt Langseth. In a career from the 1950s to the 1990s, Langseth
drew up the first global map of heat flow under the oceans, helped show
that the planet’s seafloors are continually replenished by volcanism
and was a leader in sending the first unclassified scientific missions
by U.S. Navy submarines underneath the northern ice, opening the way to
mapping and understanding the Arctic Ocean.

The Langseth replaces the "Maurice Ewing," which previously was the
United States’ main academic seismic vessel. The "Ewing," named for one
of observatory's founding figures, was retired in 2005.

It and three
other previous Lamont vessels over the past 50 years were key in
establishing modern understanding of plate tectonics and other basic
knowledge of the earth, said the observatory.

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Santa had hardly parked the sleigh when signs started going up
around town offering post-Christmas sales and major price reductions.
This one is on the wall of La Gloria on the pedestrian mall in San
José.Governments have hands
out
before first of the year

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The next few days are important for expats who hope to stay on the
right side of the government.

Marchamo payments are due by the end of business Dec. 31. This is the
annual vehicle or road tax that includes a modest amount of vehicular
medical insurance.

Passenger car owners pay 19,674 colons this year, some $39.35, for
obligatory insurance. That is a 4.54 percent increase over the 2007
fee. Other fees depend on the value of the vehicle and also the
frequency of accidents involving that type of vehicle, said the
Instituto Nacional de Seguros, which is in charge of collection.

As an example the insurance monopoly said that the owner of a 1998
Hyundai would pay 58,995 in total this year. Officials expect to
collect fees on 889,656 vehicles. Payments are accepted at some banks
and also at collection agencies located in supermarkets.

Dec. 31 also is the last day to pay certain municipal fees, such as
property taxes and business license payments. The payment represents
the amount for the fourth quarter of the year.

Most municipal offices are open on a limited basis mainly to receive
payments, although certain banks accept funds and electronic payments
can be an option.

Water accidents claim
at least four persons

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Four persons, including a 5-year-old, have died in water accidents so
far this holiday week. Some of the deaths were involved with the heavy
storms and flooding that hit the Caribbean coast.

Wednesday at 10:25 a.m., the Cruz Roja said, the 5-year-old and his
father were swept away while trying to cross a drainage canal at Finca
Banasol in Estrada, Matina. Their bodies were found Thursday. They were
identified as Abraham Sánchez Ruiz, 38, and his son Bryan
Sánchez González.

Around 2 p.m. Wednesday Fernando MacLawiing Barrios, 53, fell into the
Río Reventazón while checking his property for flood
damage. His body was found a few hours later, said the Cruz Roja. Also
Wednesday 65-year-old Agraceli Muñoz Mora died
at Playa Guapil, Pérez Zeledón, said the Cruz Roja.

Four persons died near Siquirres Christmas evening when the taxi they
were in plunged into a water-filled ditch and overturned. But these
deaths are being considered traffic fatalities.

One person who did not die Wednesday was identified as Manuel Hidalgo
Chávez, 48, who fell into the Río Banano near Cahuita.
Emergency crews responded. The Cruz Roja said the man managed to save
himself and did not require hospitalization.

Marijuna plants destroyed

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Anti-drug police say they have destroyed nearly 150,000 marijunaa
plants in the Talamanca area after officers found 19 separate patches
there. Some plants were 4 meters (13 feet) tall, they said. Police make
routine visits to the rugged Talamanca area and chop down
any marijuna plants that they find there.

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Costa Rica's vampire bat population has been making the transition from
forest dweller to farmland inhabitants as rainforests have been
depleted.

That is the finding of German scientists who did breath samples of the
tiny 30- to 40-gram (about 1- to 1.5-ounce) creatures.

Through a complex series of isotope measurements, the scientists found
that the bats have switched to blood meals from cattle instead of from
rainforest mammals. The researchers said that the conversion of
rainforest ecosystems into livestock-producing farmland resulted in the
expansion of vampire bat populations in Latin America. Vampire bats are
only found in Central and South America.

The researchers are ecological physiologists from the Leibniz Institute
for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, the Freie Universität
Berlin, the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and the University of
Aberdeen. Their report was published in the Journal of Comparative
Physiology B online.

The lead scientist was Christian Voigt. He and his colleagues
learned that Costa Rican farmers are observing vampire bats satisfying
their need for blood by attacking cattle instead of wild mammals, said
the Leibniz Institute.

They conducted lab tests to figure out how to determine what the wild
bats had eaten. The Leibniz Institute said that the scientists analyzed
the stable carbon isotope ratio of exhaled CO2 in vampire
bats. They fed captive vampire bats blood that was labeled with the
isotope carbon-13 and then monitored the time period between the blood
meal and the appearance of labeled carbon atoms in the exhaled breath,
said the institute.

"Vampire bats used the freshly ingested blood very fast to fuel their
metabolism," said Voigt. "After less than an hour the stable carbon
isotope signature of the vampires’ exhaled breath was similar to that
of their latest diet."

Then the researchers went in search of wild vampire bats in Costa Rica
and subjected them to breath tests.

Leibniz Institute for Zoo and
Wildlife Research photo

The common vampire bat

"The potential victims of vampires in Costa
Rica are either cattle or
rainforest mammals such as tapirs and peccaries," said Voigt. "These
two groups of animals feed on isotopically distinct plants which are
grasses in the case of cattle
and herbs or shrubs in the case of rainforest mammals. Therefore, we
expected that the stable carbon isotope signature in bat breath would
change according to their diet."

The scientists reported that the vampire bats' breath clearly indicated
that their last blood meal almost always originated from cattle,
although rainforest mammals were also present.

The authors argue that the vampire bats do not necessarily prefer
cattle blood, but that cattle are much easier to find for vampires than
rainforest mammals. Cattle are held fenced-in on open pastures, whereas
rainforest mammals roam in dense vegetation. Converting rainforests
into pasture has a large impact on many native mammals of Latin
America, usually not to the benefit of the original mammal fauna, they
said.

Vampire bats do not take a lot of blood, but they can spread disease. A
2004 outbreak of rabies in Brazil was blamed on vampire bats.

Today's perfect jerk can be a true savior
tomorrow

I enjoy playing
roulette,
and, fortunately, gambling is legal in Costa Rica, so most hotels in
and around San José, have casinos. Of course, casinos have
more games than roulette. There are craps, a form of blackjack
called rummy, tables of poker and the ubiquitous slot machines. I
only play roulette — or canasta, which is the same as roulette, but
instead of a wheel there is a metal basket containing Ping-Pong balls
with the numbers on them.

Right now my favorite casino is the Fiesta in the Ramada Inn near
Cariari. It is small. Everyone who works there is friendly, and
the crowds are not overwhelming. Usually, too, the players are
nice and know the etiquette of roulette. All but one. I
will call him Leon. I think he is a little crazy. He has
the habit of yelling at the canasta of balls for his number to get out
of there. And he is very loud with a voice that sounds like a
bark. He also runs from table to table placing bets. But I
am the only one who looks at him with annoyance. The Fiesta
people laugh and think he is funny.

Like most casinos, the Fiesta has a raffle every evening. During
the course of the evening, players are given tickets to fill out and
deposit in a large container. Once an hour workers pull a ticket and
give whatever prize is offered that evening. Usually it is money,
but during the Christmas season, there have been gift
certificates. I am not lucky at raffles, but a couple of weeks
ago my name was called. Wendy, who is the very lovely hostess and
two others, all smiling, presented me with an envelope. I opened
it to discover I had won, as I read it aloud, a car wash, an engine
cleaning and my headlights adjusted. Their smiles faded when I
said, “Thank you, but I have no car.” Luckily it was
transferable, so I gave it to my friend James.

Then, last week my name was called again. This time a gentleman
with a smiling Wendy at his side, presented me with four green
envelopes to choose from. I casually picked the fourth.
Great happiness all around when I read that I had just won an Atlas
refrigerator! The very one sitting in the casino. This time
I was as thrilled as Wendy was because I need a refrigerator. All
I had to do was take it away –— not an easy thing to do with Christmas
close upon us.

Several nights later I went back to the Fiesta to ask Wendy if they
would hold it until after the holidays. She said wait, she would
see what she could do. In about an hour she returned to say she had
someone who would deliver it for 10,000 colons. I said okay, and
off she went. When she returned again I asked her when he could do
it. Right now, she said. Right now was about 9:30 at night,
but I said okay. And guess who my mover was. That’s right,
crazy Leon, who yells at the balls in the canasta and hops from table
to table. I wondered if he remembered the dirty looks that I had
given him. “But he is crazy,” I whispered to Wendy. She just
laughed and said he was buena gente.

With great concern on my part and far too much
lightheartedness on theirs, Leon and the very large muscular bouncer
lifted my fridge from the dolly onto the back of Leon’s truck. I was
terribly concerned that it

would get damaged on the way but was assured
that the ropes and cardboard, plus the bouncer riding in the back,
would keep it just fine.

To my surprise, we did get it to the apartment and up to the
fifth
floor (via elevator) with no trouble and with not a scratch. On
the
way back, the bouncer and all of his muscular bulk rode in the cab with
us. The truck had a stick shift, so each time Leon had to shift his
elbow jabbed me in the arm. I was too concerned about the speed
at
which we were traveling to worry about his elbow. The speedometer
said
70, but all I knew was that we were whizzing past every other vehicle
on the dark autopista.

The two gentlemen were chatting all the while about raffles and
lotteries. But suddenly Leon seemed to get very angry and began
yelling in the same voice he used at the balls in the canasta.
Back
and forth in front of me their words flew while we flew down the
highway. I dared do nothing but hold my breath and close my eyes
until
we reached the Ramada, which we did, safely.

Leon’s antics don’t bother me anymore. Actually, he is pretty
funny.
And, just as I never know who is going to be my teacher, so do I not
know who is going to come to my rescue.

This is a good way to tweak
friends in Canada: a Polar Bear Club that braves 30-degree (C. not F.)
temperatures and then sends the photo to the frigid north with a
scrawled 'Wish you were here!'

Once upon a time there were some extraordinarily smart polar bears in Potrero

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Costa Rica is full of little ironies and surprises. One of these is the
22-year tradition of the annual Polar Bear Swim in Playa Potrero.

More than a dozen residents brave the waters of the Pacific every Jan.
1 and then retire to warm up and breakfast at Bar La Perla.

These are the same waters that North American tourists are paying
thousands of dollars for, and there hardly are any complaints of the
nearby floating ice.

At Playa Potrero on the Guanacaste
coast they usually do not have to
chop away the ice to take a swim. The tradition, according to resident
Diane Madson, originated with a Canadian transplant from Victoria,
British Columbia, Maggie Lother.

Canada is no stranger to ice and
frozen-over waters, and there is a certifiably frigid polar bear event
there at Vancouver's English Bay.

The event this year will be at 9 a.m. in from of the Bahia del Sol.
The participants take their swim seriously and even had a sign made up
last year.

Return
of three rebel hostages could be accomplished today in Colombia

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Foreign diplomats monitoring the planned release of three hostages held
for years by Colombia's leftist rebel group say the operation will take
place as early as today.

Venezuela's ambassador to Bogota, Pável Rondón, Thursday
told Colombian radio that those involved in the operation are waiting
for the arrival of an international envoy to oversee the hostages'
liberation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said the only thing standing in
the way of the release of three hostages held by Colombia's largest
rebel group, the Fuerzas Armadas Revoluicionaris de Colombia, is the
approval of the Colombian government.

The rebels said earlier this month it would release the captives to
Chávez or to someone he designates.

The hostages are former Colombian lawmaker Consuelo Gonzalez, former
vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas, and her young son, Emmanuel,
fathered by one of her guerrilla captors.

Colombia Wednesday agreed to allow Chávez to send planes and
helicopters into its territory to pick up the three hostages. But
officials said the Venezuelan aircraft would

have to be marked with the Red Cross
emblem.

The Venezuelan leader said that when the planes cross the border, rebel
leaders will designate a meeting point. Colombia also thanked
Chávez for his government's efforts.

Chávez was involved in hostage negotiations until Colombian
President
Álvaro Uribe ended the effort, saying the Venezuelan leader had
overstepped his role as a mediator. Chávez responded by cutting
diplomatic ties with Colombia.

The rebels have demanded the release of hundreds of rebels held in
Colombian prisons, in return for freeing several high-profile hostages.

The rebels are still holding former presidential candidate Ingrid
Betancourt, who was kidnapped with Rojas in February 2002.

But the development involving Rojas, her son and the former lawmaker
could lead to the release of other hostages, such as Betancourt.

Three Americans are also being held. They were seized in 2003 after
their plane went down in Colombia during a counter-narcotics mission.

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